Monday 8 June 2009

Price rise may cause storm in teacup!




Droughts in the major tea producing countries such as India and Sri Lanka and an increase in demand will mean prises of tea could rise by 10-15% in the next couple of weeks.
Tea production in South Africa has fallen by 10%.


165,000,000 cups of tea are drunk in Britain each day, so tea is as popular as its ever been, but with prices of milk and sugar also having risen recently, tea is going to get more expensive no matter how you prefer to brew it.


Transportation and packaging costs are also increasing, and there has been political unrest in Kenya - the worlds biggest black tea exporter. This unrest has meant that there has been a backlog of tea waiting to leave Kenya’s ports and is linked to increasing labour and fuel costs in the country. China are demanding and consuming more tea than India for the first time too which will result in the halting of falling tea prices in the UK.


If prices to go up as they are predicted to it would be good news for the tea farmers who have been experiencing a drop in profits over the last 10 years. All major tea brands have schemes (such as the Rainforest alliance) that aim to help tea farmers and the areas that they work in, so a modest increase in prices such as this can only help them and their local areas.